Public Release: 4-Mar-2015 eLifeMetabolic path to improved biofuel production
Researchers at the Energy Biosciences Institute have found a way to increase the production of fuels and other chemicals from biomass fermented by yeast without the need of environmentally harsh pre-treatments or expensive enzyme cocktails.
Energy Biosciences Institute

Public Release: 3-Mar-2015 Applied Physics LettersFirst scientific publication from data collected at NSLS-II
Just weeks after NSLS-II achieved first light, a team of scientists at the X-Ray Powder Diffraction beamline tested a setup that yielded data on thermoelectric materials and resulted in science published in Applied Physics Letters - Materials.
Department of Energy, Basic Energy Sciences

Public Release: 3-Mar-2015NREL science crucial to success of new biofuels plants
The Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory played crucial roles in the technology that has led companies DuPont, POET, and Abengoa to open commercial-scale facilities to turn biomass into clean transportation fuels.

Public Release: 3-Mar-2015NREL releases the 2013 Renewable Energy Data Book, detailing increases in installed capacity
The newly released 2013 Renewable Energy Data Book illustrates United States and global energy statistics, including renewable electricity generation, renewable energy development, clean energy investments, and technology-specific data and trends. The Data Book is produced and published annually by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory on behalf of the Energy Department's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
US Department of Energy

Public Release: 3-Mar-2015NREL reports examine economic trade-offs of owning vs. leasing a solar photovoltaic system
Two new reports from the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory examine the economic options customers face when deciding how to finance commercial or residential solar energy systems. NREL analysts found that businesses that use low-cost financing to purchase a photovoltaic (PV) system and homeowners who use solar-specific loans can save up to 30 percent compared with consumers who lease a PV system through a conventional third-party owner.
US Department of Energy

Public Release: 3-Mar-2015New incubator network to help clean-energy entrepreneurs
The Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the Electric Power Research Institute have launched the Clean Energy Incubator Network. The program, funded by the Energy Department, aims to improve the performance of clean energy business incubators, connect critical industry and energy sector partners, and advance clean energy technologies emerging from universities and federal laboratories.

Public Release: 3-Mar-2015NREL takes first in-depth look at solar project completion timelines
The Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory has gathered and analyzed data for more than 30,000 solar photovoltaic installations across the United States to better understand how interconnection regulations align with actual project completion timelines. The findings indicate that interconnection process delays are common, and can range from several days to months. Streamlining the application review and final authorization processes can ultimately benefit utilities and solar consumers by reducing the time and cost associated with going solar.
US Department of Energy

Public Release: 3-Mar-2015Testing at NREL aids solar power in Hawaii
Inverter load rejection overvoltage tests completed by the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory as part of a cooperative research agreement with SolarCity have proven so successful that a testing partner, Hawaiian Electric Companies, has proposed to double its hosting capacity for solar energy.
US Department of Energy

Public Release: 3-Mar-2015 Energy and Environmental ScienceNREL refines method to convert lignin to nylon precursor
A new study from the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory demonstrates the conversion of lignin-derived compounds to adipic acid, an important industrial dicarboxylic acid produced for its use as a precursor to nylon, plasticizers, lubricants, polyesters, and other popular products and chemicals.
US Department of Energy

Public Release: 2-Mar-2015APLAIR partners with ORNL to commercialize weld inspection technology
ORNL's infrared imaging system can help automakers quickly determine whether a weld is good or bad without damaging the part. The infrared check can be performed in a few seconds, offering industry a low-cost and non-destructive alternative to monitor welds in real time.

Public Release: 26-Feb-2015New CMI process recycles valuable rare-earth metals from old electronics
Scientists at the Critical Materials Institute, headquartered at the Ames Laboratory, have developed a two-step recovery process that makes recycling rare-earth metals easier and more cost-effective. The process uses differences between the solubility properties of difference elements to separate out rare-earth metals.
The Department of Energy

Public Release: 25-Feb-2015 Nature CommunicationsNew flow battery to keep big cities lit, green and safe
The new zinc-polyiodide redox flow battery uses an electrolyte that has more than two times the energy density of the next-best flow battery used to store renewable energy and support the power grid. It's high energy density, and resulting lower cost, make it ideal for large cities where space is at a premium.
US Department of Energy

Public Release: 13-Feb-2015Argonne researchers to study Chicago emergency evacuation system
A group of Argonne researchers will be studying methods and creating tools for building more resilient mass transit systems to evacuate major cities under a $2.9 million grant announced this week by the US Department of Transportation's Federal Transit Administration.
US Department of Transportation/Federal Transit Administration

Public Release: 11-Feb-2015ORNL's Roberto named MRS Fellow
James Roberto, the associate laboratory director for Science and Technology Partnerships at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has been elected a fellow of the Materials Research Society.

Public Release: 11-Feb-2015 ACS NanoBacterial armor holds clues for self-assembling nanostructures
Berkeley Lab researchers at the Molecular Foundry have uncovered key details in the process by which bacterial proteins self-assemble into a protective coating, like chainmail armor. This process can be a model for the self-assembly of 2-D and 3-D nanostructures.
DOE/Office of Science

Public Release: 9-Feb-2015 Nature MaterialsNew design tool for metamaterials
Berkeley Lab researchers have shown that it is possible to predict the nonlinear optical properties of metamaterials using a recent theory for nonlinear light scattering when light passes through nanostructures.
DOE/Office of Science

Public Release: 9-Feb-2015DARPA taps lab to help restore sense of touch to amputees
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency recently selected Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to join a collaborative research team that intends to build the world's first neural system to enable naturalistic feeling and movements in prosthetic hands.

Public Release: 5-Feb-2015 Nano LettersPrecision growth of light-emitting nanowires
A novel approach to growing nanowires promises a new means of control over their light-emitting and electronic properties. Berkeley Lab researchers demonstrated a new growth technique that uses specially engineered catalysts. These catalysts have given scientists more options than ever in turning the color of light-emitting nanowires.
US Department of Energy Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences

Public Release: 5-Feb-2015 Nature CommunicationsSodium carbonate capsules used to capture carbon safely
The team developed a new type of carbon capture media composed of core-shell microcapsules, which consist of a highly permeable polymer shell and a fluid (made up of sodium carbonate solution) that reacts with and absorbs carbon dioxide. Sodium carbonate is typically known as the main ingredient in baking soda. The capsules keep the liquid contained inside the core, and allow the CO2 gas to pass back and forth through the capsule shell.

Public Release: 3-Feb-2015 Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesRediscovering spontaneous light emission
LEDs could replace lasers for short-range optical communications with the use of an optical antenna that enhances the spontaneous emission of light from atoms, molecules and semiconductor quantum dots.
NSF/Center for Energy Efficient Electronics Science

The Department of Energy's Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time.